


Five feet apart

by Starrywhaleshark



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gay Bar, M/M, Oblivious Clay Jensen, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 19:06:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21123719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrywhaleshark/pseuds/Starrywhaleshark
Summary: ‘Tony reached up and took one of Clays sleeves in his strong hands, popping the button open with one hand so easily that Clay was suddenly sent on a lifetime journey ‘I’m about to die’ style flashback to every porno he’d ever watched in his life and why was Tony suddenly the star of every single one of them?‘In which Clay has a revelation in the middle of a gay bar.





	Five feet apart

“Maybe it won’t be so bad. I mean it can’t be that bad, right?”

“Clay-“

“Maybe I shouldn’t go... it...it’s not really my scene.”

“Clay...”  
Clay readjusted his shirt collar for the fifth time, leaning close to the mirror. Had his eyebrow always been that shape? 

“Maybe this outfit isn’t the best choice. I look all skinny...” clay sighed as he desperately smoothed down his errant eyebrow. 

“Clay!” Tony said with finality, smacking his thighs from his place on the bed where he’d watched Clay try on every item of clothing in his wardrobe. He couldn’t figure out what the problem was to begin with, since Clay looked good in everything he’d ever tried on. He’d gone with a plain white shirt with a black button down over the top. It was Tony’s recommendation- which required some amount of force and firm language to get Clay to try on.   
Tony had never been more thankful to be gay, ‘queer eyes got nothin on me’ he thought as he let his eyes roam over the other boys shoulders and down his arm. He realised Clay was looking at him nervously and stood up, standing beside him in the mirror. 

“You need to relax, man. It’s just a club! We don’t have to be there long, one drink and we can... watch Star Wars later.” Tony bribed, enjoying the small smile that Clay failed to hide. 

“Yeah... yeah you’re right. Who knows it could be fun. I mean you’ll be there, so. How bad can it be?” Clay agreed with a grin. Tony refused to blush. Just flat out refused to do so. He clenched his jaw to force the colour from his cheeks, holding a deep breath.

“You okay man? You look like you’re about to be sick.” Clay asked, looking concerned. 

“Let’s just go, Clay, before you change your mind.”

They arrived at the club in a cab, Tony absolutely not wanting to take his Mustang anywhere near groups of drunk rowdy people with glass bottles and other smashy items. 

It wasn’t what Clay was expecting, tv and movies always showed lots of scandalously clad women hanging around outside, breathing seductive trails of smoke from their red stained lips, clinging to the arms of big men buying drinks they couldn’t afford in the hopes of taking someone home. But there were no girls that Clay could see, ‘pretty odd’ Clay thought, but pushed it from his mind to smile at Tony when the other boy looked over at him, leading him to the door. 

Tony and Clay both gave their ID to the biggest man Clay had ever seen in his life by the door. He peered at Clay over the top of the card, looking absolutely unconvinced that baby cheeks Jensen could be in any way of legal drinking age, and Clay was one heartbeat away from bolting down the road in a hot sprint while considering how long it would take for the police to track him down. Then Tony stepped forward, smooth and impossibly cool in his jacket with his goddamn hair and slipped a 20 into the bouncers hand, giving him that Tony patented wink that Clay was convinced was a form of hypnosis that was impossible to resist for anyone subjugated to it, himself included. 

“Go on in boys.” The bouncer said, not taking his eyes off Tony, giving him a wink back. Clay squinted at him as he passed, confused and annoyed in equal measure by the mans behaviour.   
It wasn’t until they’d pushed through the crown to the bar that Clay took the time to force his eyes off Tony and scan the crowd, Clay came to the same realisation he had outside. 

“Dude... there’s like... no girls in here? Like I see... maybe five girls, what gives?” Clay shrugged, looking at Tony with that unforgivably innocent look of his that made Tony’s heart clench painfully. He was so. Goddamn. Oblivious Tony honestly couldn’t believe it. 

“Clay... Clay it’s a gay bar.” Tony yelled over to him with a shrug, trying for nonchalant but feeling suddenly nervous. Maybe taking Clay here was a mistake. Clay was straight. He would probably be uncomfortable being surrounded by gay men grinding on each other, but Tony had hoped maybe he wouldn’t mind. maybe he should’ve thought it through more, he decided, while watching Clay’s eyes widen cartoonishly as the boy gave another look around at the shocking amount of leather in the crowd of bodies. 

“Oh.. oh my goodness. Okay. That’s- no that’s fine. It’s cool. Have at it.” Clay nodded emphatically, gesturing towards the groups of men in a ‘go forth’ motion to Tony, who didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry. 

“I’m not here to find a guy, Clay. I’m here with you. You know, to hang out... two bros... in a gay bar.”

“Five feet apart cuz theyre not gay.” Clay joked, and Tony snorted, ordering them some beers when the bartender wandered down their way. 

“Exactly. Except one of them IS gay.” Tony reminded him, and Clay blushed, nodding again and looking just about anywhere but at Tony. 

“Yeah... yeah. I mean it’s all good. You know? Any guy would be lucky to be closer than five feet apart from you.” Clay said with a tight smile. Why did he say that? Why did he think that? Why did the thought of Tony mingling into the crowd and dancing with some random guy make Clay want to crawl under one of the sticky tables and die?   
Tony was looking at him like he was just as confused by Clay’s compliment, and Clay was sure the shorter boys cheeks looked a little rosy, but it must’ve just been how warm it was in the tight mass of people. 

“Here you go, two beers.” The bartender interrupted their silent staring contest, and Tony was quick as lighting to pay and drag Clay onto the dancefloor, beer in hand. 

“I don’t really look like I fit in here, do I? I mean everyone looks so cool and fashionable. I look like... like a nerd.”

“Okay first of all, not all gay guys are fashionable, second of all, you are a nerd.” Tony pointed his beer at Clay, mock serious before he laughed and started swaying slightly to the beat of the music. Clay couldn’t help laughing when he saw Tony make a face, knowing immediately that he was judging the house music, and sure enough he turned to Clay and shouted over it,

“Couldn’t they put on some fucking 80’s hits, man? It’s a gay bar. My people live for the 80’s.”

“Yeah what’s that about?” Clay asked, chugging his beer. 

“Maybe it’s because we weren’t allowed to be gay... but we were all super gay anyway?” Tony shrugged and Clay grinned. 

“You don’t look gay.”

“Oh, and what does gay look like Clay?” Tony crossed his arms, pretending to be self righteously offended. The taller boy glanced to the right, where a man in leather chaps was bumping up against him and doing the ‘vogue’ hand dance. Clay pointed at him before looking back at Tony awkwardly, who almost snorted his beer out of his nose. 

“Fair point, Jensen... Alright, well you might not have the gay fashion down but you can still work on this.” Tony decided, putting his empty bottle on the ground and approaching Clay until he was right in front of him. ‘Definitely closer than five feet apart’ Clay nodded to himself, his smile dropping when Tony met his eye with a mischievous sparkle in his honey coloured eyes, and had they always looked that sparkly or was it just the disco lights?

Tony reached up and took one of Clays sleeves in his strong hands, popping the button open with one hand so easily that Clay was suddenly sent on a lifetime journey ‘I’m about to die’ style flashback to every porno he’d ever watched in his life and why was Tony suddenly the star of every single one of them?   
He watched silently as Tony rolled up his sleeve until it met his elbow, feeling every graze of Tony’s fingers against his skin like he was blindfolded, senses heightened in the absence of his clear vision. Tony finished with one sleeve and proceeded with the other one. Clay dropped his nearly empty bottle on his foot, wincing but playing it cool as an uncool cucumber when Tony looked up at him again. 

“There, much better.” Tony decided with a sure nod. Clay felt himself nodding too. 

“Yeah?” He said too quietly for the loud club, but Tony was so close that he heard it anyway. 

“Yeah, Arms. Arms are hot.” Tony smirked, winking at Clay. That wink was the off button for Clay’s Brain, every system offline. He was sure he could hear the windows error message play, and he blinking several times to try and clear the sudden fog, until he was pulled viciously from it by an arm sliding around his waist. 

“Wha?” Clay started as he was spun around to come face to face with a very tall very broad shouldered man grinning down at him.   
Tony could tell that this man was proud of his catch as he pulled a confused Clay against him. 

Tony couldn’t exactly blame him, they were in a gay bar, and Clay? Clay was prime real estate. Prime twink real estate. All pale skin and puppy dog eyes and pink lips that were shaped like a hidden smirk no matter what they were doing, and Tony could not think about all the things Clay could probably do with his lips and his mouth when the boy in question was currently being groped by a very large man with a jaw that could star in its own movie. 

Tony looked around and realised that this man was obviously not the only person here who had taken an interest in the fresh meat, several other men glancing over at him, waiting for an opportunity.   
Tony went to step in but felt a hand snake around his arm, turning to find a pretty blond haired boy smiling at him with half lidded eyes. The guy wasted no time on formalities, immediately dancing and grinding on him while Tony was still trying to get over to Clay through the ever growing throngs of men between them. 

“What’s your name, then?” The big guy asked As he held Clay tightly to him. 

“Clay... I’m uh, I’m Clay.” It sounded more like a question than a statement, but Clay was still trying to figure out what was going on right now and glanced around to see that Tony had disappeared. 

“Very nice to meet you, Clay, I’m Mike.” The man said with a wide grin that could only be described as triumphant, of what Clay had no idea. Of being Mike? Mike was a pretty solid name, Clay supposed. 

“Thanks, uh I should get back to my friend though.”

“Aw come on, he won’t miss you! See? he’s got himself a friend too!” Mike jerked his head in the direction of Tony, and Clay felt his throat shrivel worryingly small when he saw Tony dancing with some pretty guy who was all tanned and beach ready. 

“Oh...Yeah.” Clay nodded, as if he had only just remembered the fact that he was an actual nerd and was skinny and weird looking and Tony wouldn’t want to be with him. ‘Why do I care if Tony doesn’t want me? I’m not gay!’ Clay thought, and in true Clay Jensen style, the realisation came to him late as a bus and heavy as a freight train. 

He had followed his best friend to a gay bar where he was now dancing with a burly man who was looking at him like a juicy steak, he was jealous of Tony dancing with someone else. He wanted to be with Tony every day. He’d always wanted to spend time with Jeff before Jeff met his girlfriend and he met Hannah, and now he was always keeping one eye out for a red car in the street and a leather jacket in a crowd and- Clay liked boys! He liked girls, and he liked b o y s. And Tony... well, that was a whole other realisation coming too late. The shock must have shown on his face because Mike suddenly lifted up his chin and looked at him carefully. 

“What’s wrong, sweetheart? Don’t feel like dancing? Wanna get a drink instead?”   
Clay took another look over at Tony and his new ‘friend’ and made a quick and frankly not at all thought about decision. 

“No, no I’m fine with dancing.” Clay smiled, trying to pretend like he did this all the time and wasn’t currently suppressing a mental breakdown after a life changing epiphany. He darted his hand up and grabbed the mans shoulder, putting the other hand on the mans chest and wow that was a big muscle. Clay patted it twice just to confirm. Mike smiled and wrapped his other arm around Clays waste to join the other, bringing their hips together and moving them languidly. Clay tried to follow the same rhythm and ignore his conflicted body.

His head was buzzing with new found realisation, thinking back over every moment he’d ever had with a guy that was super fucking non heterosexual that he hadn’t realised until now, wondering how he had not realised that blushing when you looked at a guy’s ass for the fifth time in five seconds during gym wasn’t straight behaviour. On the other end of the bodily spectrum his usually neglected nether regions were having a fucking fiesta of a time pushing up agains this tree of a man holding Clay so close to him.   
Clays’ heart was caught in the middle of the two bodily parts, Brain and balls both fighting for attention and blood supply, while his heart beat wildly and broke loudly as it thought about Tony with someone else, about Tony not wanting a loser like him, about Tony...

“You wanna come home with me tonight? Let me do bad things to you, baby?” Clay heard Mike whisper into his ear, biting the lobe, and there was definitely one part of Clay’s anatomy that screamed ‘yesssss!’ Unfortunately the rest of him was still thinking about Tony.   
‘Why would you go home with someone who wasn’t Tony? Pointless. Ridiculous. Unbelievable.’ It says.   
Suddenly Clay felt himself being pulled away from one firm chest into another. This one felt different. Mike’s was all abs and six pack, clearly made from hours a day spent in the gym honing and kissing his biceps in the mirror, the chest he was pressed against now was hard and strong, but felt more like it had been built from manual labour, broad and thick but soft enough for Clay to lie on and sleep. Good god he was tired suddenly. 

“Okay buddy, I think we’re fucking done here.” He heard an angry voice say, Tony’s angry voice. Why was Tony angry at him?

“Hey man, we were having a good time, weren’t we babe.” Mike stated, reaching for Clay again, who felt himself get pulled back and behind Tony and his broad shoulders. Clay thought he could probably rest his head on top of the shorter boys from here. ‘That be nice... bet his hairs soft’

“Well that’s real nice and all, but now Clay is leaving, and unless you want your ‘good time’ to end with a broken jaw I suggest you move.” Tony snarled, he knew his eyes must be wild as a forest fire by now and he was glad Clay was behind him and couldn’t see. Mike stared at him, sizing him up Tony was sure, and that old part of Tony, that angry part that wanted to start a fight and win, hoped he’d give him a reason to start swinging.

The man took one last hungry look at Clay before clearly deciding better of it and shaking his head, ducking for the bar. The other part of Tony, the part that hated his angry streak and wanted to keep Clay away from any fighting and danger sighed in relief and gripped Clay’s hand, dragging the boy quickly from the club and out onto the street. He didn’t stop walking when they were outside, still pulling Clay behind him until they rounded the corner onto a new street, not hearing Clay calling his name several times. 

“Tony- your hurting my arm.” That stopped him. Tony instantly released his grip, turning to look at Clay and trying to hold back the angry little bastard that Tony had done so well to control recently. Clay held his arm and looked at Tony like he had no idea what was going on but felt guilty about it anyway. Typical Clay, Tony thought, always guilty for other people’s mistakes. 

“What was that about? Why did we leave?” Clay asked quietly, crossing his arms and huffing, still a little annoyed at having his decision not to go home with Mike made for him, even if he would’ve said no anyway. Tony clenched and unclenched his fists, turning on the spot before throwing his arms out exasperatedly. 

“I don’t know, Clay! I just didn’t want to be there anymore.”

“Well why not?! You looked like you were having fun!” Clay spat angrily, the jealousy he could see clearly now spiking. Tony looked at him with wide eyes. 

“You’re one to fucking talk, Clay. Grinding on some guy you don’t even know? Letting him touch you and grab your ass? Since when do you even-“ Tony stopped himself, looking down at the ground and shaking his head. Clay had a moment of clarity that usually escaped him in social situations where he understood exactly what it was that Tony was unsure of. 

“Tony. I think I’m- I KNOW... I’m... im bisexual.” Clay blurred out finally, letting out a long breath that felt like it had been trapped in there since he was born, waiting until this moment, this first coming out to release itself from his body in a happy hooray. Tony’s eyes went impossibly wider, and his mouth hung open in a gape.   
Several long seconds passed until Clay couldn’t take anymore,

“Oh my god please say something I’m dying here.” He said in a rush. Tony closed his mouth and stepped closer. 

“So uh... so you realised this because of that big guy?” He asked quietly, looking embarrassed.   
Clay shook his head, making a sour face that made Tony smile a little,

“No, man. It was you. It all comes back to you. You’re the culprit. I don’t know how I could possibly not have realised it. I mean how did I not realise that wanting to kiss your best friend to see what it’s like isn’t a straight thing?! I’m so fucking clueless oh my-“ Tony shut Clay up with a finalising kiss. 

For once in his life Clay’s Brain, cock and heart were all working in unison, all amicably deciding that, yes, they very much enjoyed Tony. Clay pushed his fingers into Tony’s hair, and quite frankly why hadn’t he done that before all the time because his hair? Fantastic. Tony took that as consent enough to grip Clay’s hips, flexing his fingers like he was testing the feel of it, apparently enjoying it as he dug his fingers a little deeper, making Clay groan. They broke apart when they ran out of breath, staring at each other with their own matching shocked smiles. 

“Does this count as a first date?” Clay asked suddenly and Tony let out a surprised laugh. 

“No, Clay. It most definitely does not.”

“But- but okay there was dancing? And alcohol! And some light-and now suddenly very obvious- flirting.” Clay pointed out. 

“Yeah! and we got separated and some guy pushed his penis up against your leg!” Tony mocked and Clay winced. 

“Okay, Yeah. Point made.” He shook the thought from his head, letting Tony take his hand as they walked. 

“Plus, believe me, when I take you on a date. You’re gonna know.”

“Oh really?” Clay asked, covering his eagerness. 

“Oh yeah, flowers at your door, politely chatting to your mom, giving you my jacket... the whole deal.” Tony smiled at him and Clay felt his heart trying to pry itself out of his chest to offer itself at Tony’s feet. 

“Where would we go?” Clay asked quietly. Tony thought for a second before answering,

“Movies... can’t talk. Dinner is too formal... I think maybe the fair? Beautiful lights, candy floss... Ferris wheel kisses. I can win you a stuffed animal, let you win at bumper carts...” Tony grinned as Clay scoffed, 

“I’ll have you know I’m surprisingly okay at bumper carts.” He said, mock offended, but he couldn’t wipe the cheesy smile off his face thinking about it. 

“That sounds nice though... all of that.” Clay decided, squeezing Tony’s hand while the other boy smiled adoringly at him. 

“Yeah, Yeah it does, Clay.”


End file.
